When I started practicing yoga, in 1999, I was young and wanted to jump around on my mat. I loved the way the poses made me feel. When one of my teachers suggested that it was time for me to explore Pranayama (meditative breathing) I was underwhelmed because it didn’t seem as exciting as complicated…
My hope for my students is that they learn more quickly than me! It has taken me a long time to internalize the purpose of yoga: to integrate the body-mind-breath connection for the purpose of stilling the consciousness. When I started doing yoga I was 24 years old. I was immediately taken by the poses…
Even if you have never done yoga it is likely you have heard the jingle “Body Mind Breath” before. And it’s also probably likely that you think that improving your Body-Mind-Breath relationship is important. But how do we do that? Start with the Body In Iyengar Yoga we start with the body. Compared to the…
A friend of mine years ago used to always say “if it’s urgent, it’s not spiritual.” She meant that if you are pressuring yourself to make a decision too soon you might not make the right decision. Some decisions do require urgency: Should I call the police or my spouse after a fender-bender? Don’t delay…
If you stick with it practicing yoga can lead to a life of contentment. But how does doing poses lead to contentment? Let’s explore a recent experience I had which will hopefully illustrate the process. I spent last week vacationing on Lake Michigan with six adults, six small children and one pretty big dog. There…
In the previous post, we touched on Why we use props in yoga. The props are essential for helping us approach the poses with safety. But we also use the props to help facilitate a more profound effect through the awareness of the breath. When we are doing active poses, and not holding still very…
